I have no idea how to create pages but I'll figure it out eventually godammit

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Barry Zito is going to the Giants for a whopping $126 million over 7 years. I have liked Zito since he came up with Oakland, but I wasn't really expecting him to get the richest contract for a pitcher in MLB history. At least Hampton is now off the hook. What I think I think:

1) As Solid as Zito has been, this is way too much money for too many years.

2) Giants needed to do something after losing Schmidt and getting outbid for every other free agent they targeted.

3) Assuming Zito stays healthy (big assumption) The Giants should have a damn good rotation in a year or two.

3a) The fact that he's rated most similar to Mike Hampton the past three years of his career should scare the hell out of the Giants.

Ok, still no scanner so here's a list of Turkey Red Shortprints for the 2005 and 2006 sets. Like many of their other old timey sets, Topps decided to continue the numbering scheme on these sets, picking up at #316 for the 2006 edition. As confusing as it might be to have several cards with a 'first year' label in the first set and a 'official MLB rookie card' label in the second set (oh yes I will gripe about this at a later date, don't you worry) but it makes a lot of sense for one simple reason: The 2005 and 2006 series designs are both are completely identical. Anyone who tries to sort through a pile of mixed year Topps Archives cards or through 2005 and 2006 Turkey Red Football will know what a collossal pain in the rear looking for the tiny copyright date on the back of the card can be just to differentiate between the different sets.

I'll post a list of variations for the set in the near future, maybe even with... *gasp* a SCAN of the cards! I haven't actually gotten desperate enough to start swiping scans from eBay yet, but give me time...

P.S. - A quick note to my heckler - I actually have three digital cameras, one has a dead battery and the other two take pictures that resemble snapshots of Jimmy Hoffa and Bigfoot at a Cubs World Series game. You should know better than to expect me to have anything cutting edge like a camera phone. Hell, I'm still playing Tecmo Super Bowl and NHL 95 on my old Super Nintendo!

Thursday, December 28, 2006

This post was supposed to show off the card that started me on the road to ruin, a 1980 ToppsMike Schmidt, but my scanner is making some really interesting grindy noises so that's on hold for a while. Concidering both my printer and scanner were around during the Clinton Administration, perhaps it's time to invest in one of those newfangled printer/fax/scanner contraptions with the $50 replacement ink cartridges. For the time being, imagine an '80 Topps Schmidt that has spent far too much time in a little kid's back pocket.

In lieu of Schmidtty dog-eared goodness, here's an excellent article on Hall of Fame voting, by the man himself. I'm glad to see that at least one of the Veteran committee voters has had a change of heart and that maybe there will be someone actually elected this time around. Like Mike, I still can't figure out how Kaat isn't in already and it sure would be nice if some '80's stars like Rice, Hawk and Murph finally got their due. Seriously, if Sutter's a Hall of Famer, how can Goose Gossage and Lee Smith not be?

Hopefully I'll get my act together soon and will have some beautiful ratty old abused cards scanned and posted for your enjoyment and edification.

Update!

The dead scanner has been replaced with a fancy brand new Epson printer\scanner\copier\juicer\slicer\dicer\turnip twaddler\time machine combo platter so here for your amusement is the VERY FIRST CARD I EVER OWNED: (drumroll)

Beautiful, isn't it??

This was actually one of two 'first' cards for me as I first found this card in my grandparents' basement in an old desk along with an '80 Bob Horner. Bob was my favorite player growing up (along with Knucksie) so that card was my 'first card ever' for a while, at least until I brought the cards to school one day and someone swiped the Horner but left the Schmidt. Go figure.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

It has been said about me that I do not collect baseball cards so much as hoard them. My basement looks like Al Qaida set off a dirty bomb at the National Card Convention. I cherry picked packs for inserts long before it was cool. My doubles rival the inventory of many professional card sellers. If Topps bubble gum was heroin, I'd be the cast of Trainspotting. In short, I got too many damn baseball cards.

I admit, I have a problem. I also admit I'm not going to be doing anything to resolve that problem any time soon. So as long as I'm going to be an addict, I might as well be an attention whore as well and splash my debauchery on the intarwebs.

Since my drug of choice is manufactured by Topps, there will be a distinct slant toward their products on this blog. Quite frankly, I've never been all that interested in Upper Deck and their trendy shiny holgrams, give me the ratty old dog eared cards made out of actual paper and not some chemical compound any day. I'll mix it up from time to time and talk about other brands and sports and even non card related items since I have the attention span of a flea with ADD, but expect to see a lot of Topps baseball cards here.

Now granted, a blog about the obsessive compulsive behavior of an anonymous internet nerd... made by an amateur... perhaps of interest to only two or three people... may not seem very exiting to you, but quite frankly this is really just an excuse to post pictures of my collection. I mean, hell, everyone and their mother posts pics of their cats online, no one will mind me posting my '53 Mathews or '81 Niekro. Besides, since Topps refuses to post lists of all the short prints and variations they put in their heritage sets, a blog is a good way to plop it all in one spot so I don'thave to wade through 8 billion ads in a google search just to see which Turkey Red Preston Wilson is the short print.

HTP2 The Battle of Waterloo
HTP4 The Reformation
HTP6 The Treaty of Versailles
HTP11 Signing of the Magna Carta
HTP16 The French Revolution
HTP17 The Great Depression
HTP18 On the Origin of Species
HTP19 Sputnik I
HTP20 The Agricultural RevolutionWorld's Tallest Buildings Insert Set Checklist

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About Me

One man's tireless crusade to promote card collecting as an addictive alternative to more pharmacological pursuits. Remember kids: Do Drugs, Cards have gotten entirely too stupid. Or don't, see if I care when you RUIN YOUR LIFE FOREVER

Dayf the Blogger has a Posse

My original crappy neglected blog what I'm trying to resurrect this year

Note on the Blogroll

If you have a blog, and it ain't on here, LET ME KNOW! There are a lot of good blogs I'm missing out on. I'm also very forgetful and sometimes forget to put it on the list even if I do find a good one. If your blog is about cards or trading or sports in general I'll fit it in, but don't try to sneak your blog about politics or cats or crop rotation in the 14th century on here.